Secrecy of royal wills may be about to lapse

The practice of keeping royal wills secret may soon be a thing of the past, according to a BBC report.

A working group is currently reviewing the century-old tradition.

Since 1911, the wills of royal family members have been officially sealed and not open to public inspection, with the exception of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Responding to the launch of the review, which is due to report its findings by the end of next year, royal historian and biographer Hugo Vickers was critical.

He said it is already possible to find out how much money was left.

Mr Vickers added: "The royal family have so little privacy as it is, I don't think we should be able to see the details.

"Wills are very personal things and the royal family are very open about many things, including their finances."

Earlier this month, consumer group Which? revealed that over half of UK consumers polled were lacking wills.
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30/07/2009 15:36

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